In this article, Alex Warren, martech PR expert, explores why martech vendors struggle to differentiate themselves and why so many of these brands are terrible at marketing. He further shares five tips for building a memorable marketing technology brand.
For nearly ten years now, I have worked on PR projects for tech brands, and for five of those years, I have worked almost exclusively with martech brands. During that time, I have come to one clear conclusion — martech brands suck at marketing.
I know it is a hard fact to swallow, but it is true.
In my humble opinion, “marketing technology†is one of the most overcrowded and disjointed industries operating in the tech world today.
If you have ever seen the Martech Supergraphic, you will know that there are over 8,000 martech brandsOpens a new window out there today. Of these, I would say 50% have decent products, just with very little differentiation or distinctiveness. As for the other 50%… well, the less said about them, the better.
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Lurking somewhere between these two halves are the hidden gems. These are the handful of martech vendors with truly great products — products that could actually make a difference to marketers’ lives.
It is these brands that I always strive to work with, and in all honesty, there is little point in doing PR for anything else. If a product is terrible, then it will not sell. Period. If a product is excellent, it still will not sell… unless it has some decent marketing behind it.
Sadly, even some of the best products fall when it comes to their marketing. I have seen truly brilliant vendors fail because they made the same stupid mistakes as every other martech brand. Because they sucked at marketing.
With this in mind, here are the five pieces of advice that I typically give to my martech clients to ensure they do not suck at marketing. (You can also download this adviceOpens a new window as a handy ebook if you want the long-form version)
1. Expect Nobody To Care
Here is a harsh truth. Nobody cares about your marketing technology. No marketer “loves†the tools available to them or even spends that much time thinking about them. And yes, I am sure you have a customer survey showing 92% of marketers love your product — but those surveys are bullshit (trust me, I work in PR).
If you really want to run a survey, here is a better one to conduct. Without specifying what company you work for, ask your existing customers to list the things they most value in their jobs.
How far through that list do you think they would have to get before they mention your technology? How far down would they have to get before they mention any marketing technology? Let us put it this way: you are not making the shortlist.
The big problem with martech vendors is that they all assume their platform would be #1 — that their customers are just as passionate about their products as they are. Sadly, most customers are not that interested. They see these platforms as functional tools that make their jobs a little easier and maybe even allow them to go home on time.
Expect nobody to be as passionate as you are, and then you can start thinking about all the awesome things you could be doing to change their minds.
2. Get Some Personality
Over 8,000 marketing technology brands are out there, and 95% of them look and sound exactly the same. Marketers always talk about differentiation, but they forget about distinctiveness. As such, the martech space has become a personality vacuum, with everyone either looking like a tinpot Oracle or a poor man’s Adobe.
Only one or two brave souls have proved the exception to this rule. While everyone else is writing reports and talking about their latest Forrester Wave positioning, these brands are off building video games, launching PR stunts, and showing themselves off as the cool kids on the block.
The best martech vendors do not take themselves (or their audiences) too seriously. They do not want to be Oracle or Adobe; they have their own personalities and their own thing going on, which drives genuine interest in their brands.
3. Lose the Buzzwords and Business Jargon
Picture the scene: You are launching a new martech product, so you draft a press release and send it back and forth between your product, marketing, and content teams. They all make their edits and tweak the wording until it covers all of their key messages. Next, it goes to your boss to add their quote, then to legal to review, and then to your agency for distribution. Finally, the agency sends it to the journalist who says, “What the heck is this??†and deletes it after a single glance.
The problem? Nobody thought to share that release with somebody whose life does not revolve around martech. As a result, the end release is so full of buzzwords that it makes no sense to the average journalist or the end reader.
This is a common issue across the whole of the martech industry. Internal buzzwords become external messaging that makes perfect sense to insiders, but to outsiders, it reads like meaningless jargon.
We take basic technologies that people can relate to — analytics, ecommerce, email marketing — and we wrap them up in terminology that nobody understands. Web builders become “digital experience hubsâ€, email platforms become “omnichannel content systemsâ€, and satisfied customers become “loyalty value centersâ€. If martech vendors want to connect with their audiences, they need to lose the buzzwords and focus on being clear and concise, both in their messaging and marketing materials.
4. Stop Sucking Up To Analysts
Time for a little disclaimer. I love analysts. Analysts cut through the corporate BS and give vendors clear insights into their markets. But please stop sucking up to them.
I get it. Rebranding with analyst-friendly terminology can help with your AR strategy, but it is terrible for your marketing. The terms that analysts use do not always reflect how your audience thinks or talks, so letting your brand messaging be led by what you write in analyst reports is a recipe for disaster.
You need to separate the two: Let analysts tell your story in their own way but focus your messaging on what customers expect from you. Oh, and most importantly, if you really want to be seen as a “Visionary†or a “Leaderâ€, then the best thing to do is start acting like a visionary and a leader! Industry recognition follows hard work, not the other way round.
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5. Be Realistic and Know Where You Stand
More than anything else, if martech vendors want to improve their marketing, they need to start by being honest. Do not assume that your audience will love a product just because you do. Do not expect analysts to give your products a good review just because you think it is great. And most importantly, do not try to hide what your product does behind buzzwords and jargon.
If you are going to build a successful martech brand, you need to take a step back and be honest with yourself.
That could mean admitting your product is not as good as your competitors. Or that you have never run a side-by-side comparison. It could also mean confessing that you do not actually know your customers that well or that you have never conducted real, meaningful research into your target audience.
Nothing about your marketing will improve until you identify the problems currently holding you back — and that means being honest and admitting that those problems exist in the first place.
So, let us be honest. If you work in this field, you probably sell a platform that makes marketers’ lives that little bit easier. Maybe it helps them win more awards, or perhaps it helps them justify their budgets to the CEO. In some cases, perhaps it just lets them go home a little earlier. There is nothing wrong with any of that.
Only when you are honest and take ownership of what your product really achieves can you start to build smarter, bolder, and more effective marketing campaigns that really add value.